


Always look the other way

by exosweave



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Gorgon!Jongin, Gorgons (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Human!Chanyeol, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosweave/pseuds/exosweave
Summary: “They literally bolted out of the room as soon as they heard he was inside the building. It’s a gorgon. No one wants to be around that type.”Well, that’s quite the job-reference.“Get in contact with him. He’s perfect.”🐍 🐍 🐍written forEXO MonsterFest 2020 Prompt O79
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 9
Kudos: 46
Collections: EXO MONSTERFEST 2020





	Always look the other way

“Name?”

Spring is just around the corner and that only means one thing besides fresh new leaves. A new fashion campaign.

“Kim Kai.”

But more than that. More than just ‘a new collection’. It’s a fresh start. The kick-off for the new year. Where the autumn collections and editorials finish up the year with a banger, the spring ones are the ones that have to set the tone. Preferably so the rest of the industry has to catch up to them for the rest of the season. And far beyond that.

“Specifics?”

It comes to no surprise to him that he’s being asked to be a part of it. After all, he’s been pretty well known for his work through all different departments in the industry. Not a senior at all, but close to it in reputation.

“Drop dead gorgeous.”

The fashion designers for example like him because of the way he manages to showcase their outfits so well. The makeup artists love him because he never fails to give extra attention to their stunning work. The lighting department likes it because he lets them do whatever they want with it: he plays every situation out perfectly to his advantage.

“Species?”

He’s a natural.

But the thing that does surprise him is the company that suddenly decided to reach out to him. Gucci. The company renowned from reinventing the fashion scene time and time again. He isn’t sure if he’s the right fit, but if the fashion house deems it so then so be it.

“Gorgon.”

Besides being talented, he’s also crazy competitive. So when they asked him to photograph for their next editorial, Chanyeol just knew that it had to make a lasting impact. After this campaign is published, he wants it to leave such a big impression that neither Gucci nor the public wants to see any other photographer in charge of their campaigns.

“Eyes?”

He wants a bigger name for himself. But above all, he’s got something to prove now after requesting carte blanche from the fashion house for their next editorial. _Just trust me,_ he had insisted, truth be told he wouldn’t have entrusted himself with the a part of the fashion year’s grande epilogue.

Gucci’s swan song.

Yet inspiration came easily. He knows exactly what route he wants to take for the end of this fantastic season. Because if there’s one thing the mass is obsessed with nowadays besides unpayable fashion and feeling better than others because of how much coin they flip, it’s the unattainable charm of a monster.

And the inhuman qualities that seem to gain them more foes than friends nowadays. Streets decorated with tons of posters calling for a safer world, covering the ones calling for equality.

“Unseen beauty.”

He understands the appeal. Understood it completely when he finally got the stunning colors of a mermaid’s scales underneath the lens of his camera. The broken rays of sunlight through the water’s surface makes them sparkle, but outside of the water and in the studio lighting the scales had truly looked more than captivating.

He still remembers them so vividly, knowing a picture on a page will do them far from justice.

“Really? What color?” He muses, remembering the shades that had been resting on top of the man’s gorgeous nose bridge – the perfect curving slope – and had covered half of the model’s face. But from the parts he had seen – such as the plump pair of lips that looked so soft and in contrast with his sharp jawline – he straight up knew that it must’ve matched in beauty.

The exact impact he has been looking for to bring his ideas to life. The Gucci spirit.

“Like literally the shade of never-been-seen-before. He hides them.”

“How?” Chanyeol frowns above the pictures he’s been looking through for quite some time now. Files after files of monster-models to possibly fulfill the monstrous lineup he’s been working on for the past few weeks.

They always missed something after he laid his eyes on that creature in the monster underground.

“Sunglasses,” Jongdae, the scouting agent Gucci has assigned him to team up with for this specific project sighs in slight annoyance. There’s a glint in his eyes, almost shining as much as the gel in his waved out hair, that betrays his amuse.

“Then how does he model?”

“Our eyewear campaigns? God, Loey, do you actually have a brain in there?” He throws him the file across the desk. It’s like a magnet, that captivating type of rare beauty that is eternalized on the first page of his portfolio. Immediately drawn to the picture, he doesn’t even want to look at any more possible models in the list to cast.

He wants him. Ever since he first laid eyes on him in that underground club so full of smoke. his eyes could barely keep up with the vision in front of him.

“Is he difficult to work with?”

“Some say he’s quite unapproachable, yes.”

“What do others say?”

“That they literally bolted out of the room as soon as they heard he was inside the building. It’s a gorgon. No one wants to be around _that_ type.”

Well, that’s quite the job-reference.

“Get in contact with him. He’s perfect.”

🐍 🐍 🐍

The very first time Chanyeol ran into _the_ Kim Kai, it happened in quite a peculiar way.

After a few days of not hearing anything back from the staff member of the Gucci team he had been signed to – something he had written off as the company silently trying to back out of their deal, already regretting the fact that they had given him carte blanche – he suddenly got an invite rolling into his mailbox from his scouting agent.

To none other than an underground monster _showcase_.

Chanyeol found it bizarre in multiple type of ways. First of all, how the hell were these still a thing? He thought the world had long revolved past the need of treating monsters like zoo animals. Secondly, there’s just something odd about meeting your new colleague from a prestigious fashion brand in some place that almost looked like the equivalent of an underground strip club. Or BDSM dungeon, the sight of metal bars and hungry eyes just a bit too intense.

Coming to think of it, he had no idea what drink he had been holding in one of his hands. Except for the fact that it looked like some bad Halloween party prop. Googly eyes drifting around his glass serving as ice cubes. Or so he assumed.

The place really was taking the monster theme a bit too seriously.

“Come on, loosen up man,” the man who only near the end of the night properly introduced himself as Kim Jongdae grinned, white eyelashes blinking back at him mockingly. “You look constipated.”

“What are we doing here?”

“Looks like you need another drink. Just to open your mind up a bit, you know.” Well, he couldn’t quite try to contradict that. The amount of supernatural creatures swarming the place was indeed pushing at the line between comfort and discomfort.

Monster showcases, he learned, were quite a common occurrence in the industry. Or at least in the higher ranks. The brands that reigned with their concept of diversity. He also learned that Kim Jongdae was in charge of that department specifically. The ideal embodiment of combining the two worlds together, being half monster and half human. That explained the awkwardness he felt when he only saw one of his eyes fluttering white back at him.

So here they were. On their first work related meeting. Scouting models. And here Chanyeol had almost thought they were out for a casual Saturday night.

It feels weird. He often visited nightclubs – more so when he was younger though, his working life had quickly become too hectic – and in a way it didn’t differ much from that. Both involved blatantly staring each other up and down under the effects of booze.

But watching all sorts of different creatures twisting and turning their bodies around the best they could in the crammed spaces, he almost felt like he was intruding something. Like he had seen something he wasn’t supposed to have seen at all.

Like he wasn’t supposed to walk in on the private show. All of it – the models, the space, the music – felt too intimate.

It was trying to lure him in further and further. Successfully so. Soon he forgot that he was still part of the crowd. And that all of it was still business to the monsters that held his gaze a little too long.

A piercing stare from a woman dancing behind bars comes his way. She opens her mouth and-

He tries to back away as quickly from the siren as he possibly can, feeling like an absolute idiot for wanting to join the crowd without properly reading the warning signs leading up to the part of the showcase. _BEWARE THE SIREN SONG._

The dark punch awkwardly topples over his glass when he hits something with his back. The liquid spilling over his hand ironically looking a lot like blood.

“Please don’t be a sucker for blood,” he stupidly grins upon turning around with the drink still dripping down his hand. He jumps back quick enough however, someone’s rather vicious hairdo already hissing and snapping at him.

He’s surpised, and maybe a bit relieved too, when he finds the expression of the person attached to said hairdo looking nothing similar to the snakes circling his head. “I didn’t take you as the dad-joke type,” he smiles, but he notices it’s quite stoic. Even with the thick pair of shades he’s wearing – _no way, is that a gorgon?_ – it doesn’t seem to reach his eyes. “Or the type to come here. Looking for models?”

“I don’t know, looking for a photographer?”

Somehow he’s glad, then and there, that those hundreds of snake eyes aren’t able to roll around in their sockets.

“You’re onto me,” he settles on looking around the room once more when the stranger’s reply stays out. The man’s aura next to him suddenly making him uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the place. Maybe it’s just because of how particularly venomous his hairdo looks in the club’s neon green lightning.

“My scouting agent thought it a good idea. Find some more interesting creatures, in case all other monsters would decline that is,” he lets his sentence linger for a bit. Expecting – no, hoping – for him to catch on and snatch the suggestion . But instead he’s only left with an awkward attempt at making eye-contact. “Another gorgon perhaps then?” He grins sheepishly when the man doesn’t catch onto the offer.

“Goodluck with that.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Also searching for another gorgon.”

Chanyeol doesn’t know whether that was really meant as a joke.

He laughs anyway.

It’s how he finds himself in the company of the – what he assumes must really be a- model for the rest of the night. Suddenly warming up to the man next to him, forgetting the unsettling aura around him pretty quickly.

But it’s also how he finds himself in doubt at times. Wondering how he’s so quick to change vibes around him. The snakes sometimes luring him in, but at the same time also keeping him back.

Gorgons, strange creatures.

Lonely creatures, too, it seems. The guy spends the evening with him quite distant from the other guests. Walking around, quietly observing the crowd of people that show interest in the monsters shifting around under the lights.

He had walked in on him and he had been so open and inviting, he had expected him to mingle around all evening. But the entire night not a single soul approaches him first.

Instead, they all approach Chanyeol. Asking him time and time again with big interest how he found himself down there and if anything had already caught his eye so far. It’s weird, how it isn’t even about selling anything. It’s just a display, the apparently professional model in his company tells him, _like watching a runway_. But instead, the models are glued to one square meter to do their thing.

“Have you done this too?” He finds himself asking over another glass of punch somewhere close to midnight, and it’s truly hilarious how much the drink in his hand looks like one of the worst Halloween parties’ decoration he has ever been to. He laughs at the googly eyes floating around in his drink, fishing them out before he accidently swallows one of them. Maybe he has had enough to drink already after all.

“Started out like this, actually.”

He really doesn’t know anything about the model sitting in front of him. But then again, he isn’t really the one to keep up with fashion campaigns anyway. God knows what type of fashion shoots this man has modeled for, he thinks. He’ll stick to what he knows and understands, he decides then and there, creative photography.

“Really?” he quirks an eyebrow up, even though the model isn’t facing him. But he knows the snakes must’ve seen his struggle with his glass. “You must’ve looked really pretty then.” For someone to scout him on sight.

“It isn’t hard when there’s no competition,” he replies bitter, and it almost comes across as vain. But Chanyeol knows better. Gorgons are very, _very_ rare. Especially in the fashion industry. Hell, he didn’t even know he existed before this night.

The fashion industry where it’s all about the pretty face and the looks you can give. Where glasses are quite the deal-breaker. Or hair that isn’t able to look like anything else than fifty shades of snake-green.

Did they ever put a wig on top of his head? Is that perhaps why he doesn’t know him? Doesn’t recognize him, behind the thick incognitolike glasses?

No, he thinks, there’s no way i wouldn’t remember part of that face.

“Do you sometimes wish you were born as something else?” Chanyeol gets as bold as to ask. Blame it on the punch and his lacking in the alcohol tolerance department.

But he’s something else, he thinks. He really looks like _something else_.

“Human?” For the first time that night the guy seems to look straight into his soul. And that without uncovering a single inch of his own.

“Or monster alike?”

He breaks eye-contact – or the closest thing to it when one of them is blocking their vision – to give it some thought. Eventually he settles on a no. “I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

Fair enough.

“What about you? Do you?”

“Do what?”

“Wish you were born something else?”

See, that’s the thing gorgons are best at. Holding up mirrors.

“Something non-human?” he smirks, the question catching him quite off guard actually. He has never given it a thought. But coming to think of it right now… “I don’t think I would mind. But what though?”

“A faun,” the reply comes so fast that he has to awkwardly laugh his surprise off. When he asks him why, he tells him straight forward “your eyes are really big and your ears stick out like they are missing a pair of antlers behind it.”

“How about _your_ eyes,” he cuts in. Too eager to even think of being offended by the comment on his ears. Too abrupt.

“My eyes are _fine_.”

And if it were possible for hundreds of snakes to roll their eyes, they would’ve simultaneously done so as _something else_ took his poisonous hairdo away with him.

_Monster_ struck _fool_.

🐍 🐍 🐍

When he finally hears back from the stranger of the party by formally contacting him through his scouting agent, there’s nothing left of the statuesque composure he’s been photographing the model in front of him with.

Today’s working act of the editorial consists of photographing a ghost. Or more so everything that’s able to capture the essence of it.

For this photoshoot he has arranged a range of all sorts of fabric. All the way from flowy, red silk to almost translucent, white lace. It had been quite interesting to scout a model based on the picture of an empty backdrop and a vague appearance description, but it didn’t disappoint.

Together with Chanyeol’s experienced directions, he quickly turns the unusual thing into a work of art. The silk falling beautifully across his spread out, apparently exquisitely plump lips. Lace revealing the most dainty hands even the cover of Vogue hasn’t seen yet.

“He’ll do it,” Jongdae announces, bursting in with a new set of files tucked underneath his arm.

Chanyeol’s neck is already swelling from pride.

“On one condition. He wants to see you at work first. See if you’re actually any good,” he throws his hands up in defeat at the dark look he flashes him because of that. “His words.”

“See if _I’m a_ ny good?” he retorts above his camera lens, still continuing to flash picture after picture. Work never stops after all. Not even for a monster with a temperament.

“Because it’s such a different kind of campaign, you know. Give the guy some slack,” he chuckles, raising an eyebrow in curiosity at the _thing_ Chanyeol is working on.

“Why would I?” He retorts, lips locked about the fact that they were vaguely acquainted with each other already. Still, he couldn’t fight the slight grin forming on the bottom half of his face as he continued snapping pictures behind his camera.

Click. Flash.

“He’s never done much besides promoting eyewear, I think.”

The only reply the agent gets on that is a concentrated humming from his part. He doesn’t like talking much during working hours. When he’s busy creating art, he’s too in the zone for anything else.

And right now, he’s probably the first one ever to shoot a ghost. He’s content behind his cameralens. _Gonna make you a star,_ he thinks, unsure whether that’s really directed to the ghost, the gorgon or himself.

He doesn’t hear Jongdae leaving silently either soon after, sly grin on his face as he leaves the photographing room to fetch someone from the back of the building where the model’s dressing rooms are located.

Doesn’t notice the wonder forming across a certain someone’s features as soon as they join him, the invisible model and the rest of the crew working around to create magic.

Until all of a sudden the model underneath the sheets lets out a loud gasp, dropping them in the process. There’s not a trace left of the creature anymore in the big room. Not a clue left to tell Chanyeol that it’s still there somewhere, except for the airy cold that still clings around the set.

“What happened, love?” Dickhead, he wants to say, but he doesn’t want to overstep the boundary at work. He lets out a disappointed sigh, wondering and trying to figure out what suddenly scared them and caused distrust. “Come out again, it’s alright.”

“That would be my fault,” a voice to his right apologizes, and he hears the hissing coming from the person earlier than his somehow soothing voice itself.

He turns around in confusion, spotting his casting assistant standing a few meters away from him with the rest of the crew before his gaze lands on the person that’s actually been the one addressing him.

Or well… is it a person? It’s a _monster_. He wouldn’t be able to tell straight away, if it weren’t for the tiny strands of hair twisting and twirling around continuously. Or for his haircut to actually make _noise_.

Odd. But not completely out of the ordinary when you’ve met before.

But it’s _his monster_. His possible _star_. So it doesn’t matter.

“Well there, that would make you _the_ Kim Kai?” Chanyeol greets him formally – like a total stranger - immediately extending a hand to shake. Last time he checked, the touch a Gorgon doesn’t do any harm. Even if they look quite like poison with the greenish hairdo.

Which makes him immediately wonder: do those snakes also shed their skins? Or would that just be considered seasonal dandruff? He doubts anyone at Gucci would like to see that for his editorial, but he still makes it a mental note to ask later on.

When they know each other well enough to ask inappropriate questions, that is.

There’s an odd mixture of timid and confident in his response, now clearly noticeable in the proper lighting, “that would be me.” The corners of his mouth barely snake up. But still, it’s enough to make him look more human. Otherwise he’d almost think he’s talking to only a thick pair of inanimate glasses.

“Which would make me your future photographer,” he grins back with confidence, resting a hand on top of the camera next to him. Just in case he hasn’t noticed the thing yet, he reassures himself. “Park Chanyeol.” He’s totally not trying to impress him or consciously flexing his biceps, now that he’s suddenly self-aware of them. And totally not trying to make a good second impression, now that they can properly see and talk to each other without the obnoxious music playing in the background.

“Would it?” the gorgon replies, and it’s then and there he really notices for the first time how sharp witted the creature really is. More so than during their first meeting. Continuing to talk in hypotheses where other people probably wouldn’t have noticed the wording, continuing to wrap him around his fingers with his charm.

In his defense, he does have extra pairs of brains to help him out with that. Like… ten? Fifteen? It’s still a bit too early on to subtly start counting the heads of snakes attached to the man’s head.

And it’s then and there Chanyeol decides that he likes it. Gorgons. He isn’t sure whether it’s his favorite type of creature yet, but he will allow it to sneak into his top ten for now.

“I know, you need some convincing,” he smirks, turning around to gesture towards the setting he has created right in front of his camera lens. “Allow me?”

The creature quirks up an eyebrow when the photographer starts talking about his past working places and projects, almost like he’s running down his resumé for him. An impressive one at that, he can’t deny it. But that doesn’t make him that different from any other photographers hired by the prestigious fashion brands the gorgon has worked for before. Both in human and monster world standards. Unbeknownst to Chanyeol.

“So, any guesses what I’m photographing right now?”

“Well, you _were_ photographing a ghost,” Kim Kai retorts with a playful charm that doesn’t daunt Chanyeol. Surprisingly enough. Standing next to the model, he now understands the words of his scouting agent. How some people could feel intimidated by the lack of possible eye-contact.

But he likes to belief that he’s seeing some sort of a glimmer behind those thick specs.

“I was,” he chuckles, making his way to the monitors and the people sitting behind them already working on selecting and editing the right picture. He makes a quick scan for the best looking one while his – hopefully new – model makes way over to take a glimpse at them too.

He manages to turn his head away right in time when Kai almost automatically seems to grab at his shades, sliding them down without thought to look at the results in marvel and to see the shots in their true colors.

“Oops,” a small giggle leaves his mouth when he notices, tapping him lightly on the shoulder to signalize that it’s okay.

How Chanyeol wishes he could’ve actually seen his initial reaction. “Do you like it?”

He thinks the gorgon actually might have wanted to nod. Instead the man tilts his head, studying the screen a bit more up close. “I can’t help but wonder, why a ghost?”

“There’s something tragic about not being seen,” he replies, the conversation suddenly taking a dark turn. “Although you certainly _can_ hear them,” he saves the mood.

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t want Baekhyun nagging my ears off for another ten years.”

From the corner of the room the latter whines in protest.

Which in turn makes the gorgon laugh this time.

🐍 🐍 🐍

The third time the photographer meets his new model, it is exactly at the time and place he was destined to first meet him. In his studio, behind the lens. The monster in front of it.

Except for the fact that Chanyeol hadn’t expected to see him again after their very first meeting. He had expected for the gorgon to decline him after that very bold question, straight up ignoring his private nature.

Because who in their right mind even dares to ask a gorgon about their eyes?

A man on a mission.

And Chanyeol has never been the type to give up right away after some small misfortune.

“What’s this?”

No, he’s always been the type to test limits and push boundaries.

“It’s a headpiece,” he smiles as he snakes his way around his camera equipment to join the gorgon on set and save him from embarrassment. He’s twisting and turning the thing around in his hands, unsure off whatever side is up or down, left or right.

“See,” he says as he carefully takes it from his hands, turning it so the longest of the bejeweled strands falls down naturally, “it goes in front of your eyes.”

“ _Oh_ ,” is all that comes out of the gorgon’s mouth. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the monster is just embarrassed. But he does.

He looks like he’s about to bolt out of the room any minute now. If it weren’t for professionalism keeping him glued to his spot.

“You can keep the glasses on if you want,” he proposes, tactically taking the more hidden route of trying to convince him, “I just thought, since you’re always wearing those, it would be nice to switch things up for a change.”

“No, they are nice,” the gorgon muses, voice quietly fading into nothing. It sounds like there’s an afterthought coming up, but it never arrives after he politely turns around to give the gorgon some privacy. Walking his way back to his spot behind the camera where he belongs.

It’s showtime, he thinks, like he actually hasn’t seen any of the monsters over at the monster showcase. Or just like when he photographed Baekhyun, acting like he had never seen his charm before.

But well, he really has never seen a gorgon at work before.

“Can I look?” The sneering voice of the casting director blares right next to him. He’s doing a rather clumsy attempt at covering up his eyes, clutching the bag of croissants he’s brought out with him awkwardly underneath his upper arm while he tries to not accidentally trip over the many cables and cords scattered all around the floor.

Chanyeol’s the first one to actually look up at the model, seeing him in a whole new lighting as he does. Literally, the lighting department is actually working miracles with this one.

“Yes,” the model speaks timidly after nodding his head, so very used to having to speak up in order to communicate with people. Oh, how Chanyeol just wished he could share an actual look with him then and there. His eyes would’ve been telling.

“You look stunning Kai,” Kim Jongdae mouths in awe. He vaguely hears the rustling of the bag being put down a bit too harshly next to his morning coffee, but he’s too enthralled to check if he spilled any.

“Do I?” He chuckles, “I’m not really able to tell underneath all this.” A joke. An attempt to laugh it all off.

“Seriously, you can’t see anything underneath there?” The casting director sounds positively shocked.

He’s nervous.

“Man, you really are making them work for it,” he hears the man mumble around vaguely next to him, almost as if it weren’t really directed towards him. He actually might have missed it with the way his focus was elsewhere.

He has to fight back a laugh. If only the casting director knew this was the back-up shoot.

The lighting plays with the diamond droplets hanging in front of his face when Kim Kai shifts his body to take place in front of the mirror. He knows a natural model when he sees one. The man doesn’t even have to see himself to know what angle looks the most flattering.

As he twists and turns in front of the camera – listening to Chanyeol’s approving hum to indicate he may do so – he wonders if the tiny snakes that make up the crown of his head sound any different to him as they do to the people in the room.

He can’t help but notice how some coworkers shift their weight around on their legs constantly, probably uncomfortable because of the rattling sound the serpents keep making.

And it’s like they sense it too. Their little black, pearl-like eyes seemingly staring right into his soul. They’re searching the room as if they’re looking for a victim to lash out on.

He hears someone mutter a slight curse. A silent _fuck_ , but it’s loud enough to hear the slight tremble in the man’s voice. He sounds absolutely terrified. The lighting above the set shakes.

“Everybody out,” Chanyeol’s voice sounds croaky in the back of his throat because of how much time has passed where he had shot the model’s images in complete silence.

He’s expecting some protesting – these people are being paid after all – but it seems like the workers don’t even have to be told twice. As soon as the words leave his mouth, the man holding onto the light is already down the ladder’s steps and out the closest door.

He sighs in disappointment, leaning on his camera as he waits for the room to clear out. Ready to apologize, but his model doesn’t move an inch. Ever the embodiment of charming professionalism. He can’t help but wonder if there’s a hint of emotion underneath all of that, that yells at him to quit and hide from the world every time something like this happens. Which Chanyeol can’t help but suspect must be a lot.

He can’t let it just pass like that.

“Sorry about this.”

“That would be my fault,” he completes the sentence bitterly, as if it’s engraved into his brain. His lips speaking it out like muscle memory. How many times has he apologized before already?

“It isn’t. You know that. They just can’t see you.” _For who you are_ , remains unspoken in the air.

“Well for once, I couldn’t see them too,” he shakes his head. It makes the diamonds dangle around, clearing enough parts of the bottom half of his face to see a hint of a smile. But he can’t tell if that’s a genuine one, or if he’s just forcing himself again to deal with it.

“Was that a good change?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

Good.

“When is the last time you took off those glasses?” _Harsh,_ the snakes seem to mock him before they turn their gazes away silently. Weird, weren’t they just making noise?

“Last night,” the man chuckles. Oddly enough it’s in sharp contrast with the way the silence of the snakes is suddenly making his blood run cold. “Why, you think I go to bed with these?” He says it so casually after getting up, walking his way over to toy around with the pair in his hands. He can’t see anything with the headpiece, but it’s as if he has a sixth sense for the piece of accessory that would probably be better off glued to his nosebridge.

Has he upset him?

Why is it suddenly dawning upon him that he’s all alone in a room with a monster. A _gorgon_ nonetheless. The guy could pull of his shades in one move, turn him to stone and walk out. Now that would give a whole new meaning to _a cold case_.

“Is that why you were looking for a gorgon?”

“Excuse me?”

“Someone like you?” he knows he’s being blunt. Especially with a creature like this, one that could close in or lash out at him in the blink of an eye. But the guy has proven himself more talkative than what he had expected from him already.

He’d blame himself if he didn’t at least try.

“Someone who really sees me, you mean?” _Ah, always the clever thing_.

“You know,” he sighs, taking the time to clean the lens of his camera now that the shooting has come to a pause, “sometimes the scariest type of creatures aren’t monsters or men.”

He doesn’t know how he has done it, but when he looks up one of Kim Kai’s eyebrows has actually successfully managed to peak out from his headband.

“They’re the people who are the same as us. Or well, at least they think they are.”

“So you’re saying you’re better because you are different?”

_Than him,_ he probably means something along those lines, but Chanyeol decides he likes the vagueness of this question better. “I don’t know, I’d like to think that I am.”

“Prove it,” it sounds teasing, but Kai’s lips are white from the way he has them pressed together in nerves. Almost as if the gorgon has forgotten his timid nature himself.

He almost feels bad for wanting to push his limits even more. “Has anyone else asked you about taking your glasses of before?”

“You’re-“ he sharpens his throat, shifting his weight from one leg to the other before he tries again to find his cool, “you’re asking?”

“I think I just did,” Chanyeol swipes, throwing the cloth he used to clean with right next to his morning coffee. He casually takes a sip from the cup, trying to make eye contact but forgetting how he’s made it impossible for himself. Safety measures and all.

He figures Kai must have a good sense of orientation and hearing. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he could actually see what was going on. But the stiff facial expressions that don’t mimic his betray him from time to time.

Now for instance, now that he isn’t smiling back anymore.

“I know it probably comes across as a death wish,” he laughs, reaching out to one of the monitors to turn the screen towards them. On it all of the pictures they’ve taken so far displayed in miniature versions, ready to be edited by the backstage team. “But I’d love to see your eyes.”

He doesn’t expect the gorgon to insist on snapping the picture all by himself. Neither the burst of colors that bring his gaze alive on top of the screen monitor. Specks of green and silver and gold making him sigh in awe, muttering a starstruck – or rather _monsterstruck_ – “beautiful.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from The Weekend – In your eyes  
>  _  
> You always try to hide the pain  
>  You always know just what to say  
> I always look the other way  
> I'm blind, I'm blind  
> In your eyes, you lie, but I don't let it define you  
> Oh, define you_
> 
> 🐍 Author's notes: When I first saw this prompt it instantly left me with the feeling of stupidity and remorse because I didn't come up with it. I don't feel like I did it justice - not by a long shot - but I tried my best and I hope both reader and prompter still enjoyed it nonetheless. This fic is unbeta'd so all mistakes in it are my own.
> 
> 🐍 Some ending headcanons for those who crave them:  
> \- Gucci loves Chanyeol’s editorial. They dedicate an entire campaign of Gucci Beauty to the concept, asking Kai to become the brand ambassador of Gucci Beauty. (In this AU Jongin isn’t a brand ambassador of Gucci)  
> \- Kim Jongdae is half-monster: any guesses? Leave them in the comments!~  
> \- Chanyeol wears a blindfold to bed. Maybe he discovers a new kink too. Who knows, sequel ?


End file.
